PHILADELPHIA -- For two seasons, Micahel Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel played together on the same AAU team, the Boston Amatuer Basketball Club.

By an incredible twist of fate, Carter-Williams and Noel are about to become teammates once again, only on a much bigger stage.

It took some major wheeling and dealing by Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie to bring Carter-Williams and Noel together.

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In his first major event as GM, Hinkie pulled off one of the biggest trades of the 2013 NBA Draft Thursday night.

It was a move no one saw coming.

The Sixers sent All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday and the rights to guard Pierre Jackson from Baylor, the team's second pick in the second round, No. 42 overall, to the New Orleans Pelicans, formerly the Hornets, for center Nerlens Noel and the Pelicans' first-round selection in 2014.

That pick is lightly protected, which means the Sixers get the choice provided that it's not in the top three.

Suddenly in need of a point guard, the Sixers selected Michael Carter-Williams, a 6-6, 185-pound guard out of Syracuse, with the 11th pick in the first round.

After that, Hinkie went trade happy. The Sixers selected Glen Rice Jr. out of the D League and the son of the NBA All-Star by the same name. He quickly became Minute Rice when the Sixers sent the rights to the 6-5 guard to Washington for picks 38 and 54.

The Wizards selected Nate Wolters, a 6-5 scoring machine from South Dakota State. The Sixers quickly swapped the rights to Wolters for the rights to Ricky Ledo, a shooting guard out of Providence who was taken by the Bucks with the 43rd pick. The Sixers then shipped the rights to Ledo to Atlanta for future considerations. The Hawks then swapped the rights to Ledo to the Dallas Mavericks.

With pick 54, the Wizards took Arsalan Kazemi, a 6-7, 226-pound forward from Iran by way of the University of Oregon.

Got all that?

All of the trades are proposed and were not official as of early this morning.

Officially, the Sixers were left with Carter-Williams, but he let it slip out that he and Noel were looking forward to getting together in Philly.

"I just talked to (Noel)," Carter-Williams said during a conference call from New York. "He's real happy that we get to play together. He's real excited."

Carter-Williams is excited, too. He feels that he is ready to step right in as the Sixers' point guard.

"I'm definitely ready for the challenge," Carter-Williams said. "I think my game is ready and I think I'm ready from a mental aspect, too. I've been in situations where I've been able to succeed and I feel I'm ready for the NBA."

Carter-Williams was one of the driving forces behind Syracuse's run to the Final Four. A solid defensive player and an outstanding passer with good court vision, Carter-Williams led the Big East Conference and ranked fifth in the country in assists per game (7.3). He also averaged 11.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game.

"I'm really excited," Carter-Williams said. "I can't wait to play for the Sixers. It's a dream come true to get to play in the NBA."

If Carter-Williams has a weakness, it's shooting the ball. He connected on just 39.3 percent of his attempts overall and 29.2 percent from 3-point range.

"I'm working on that," he said.

To make Carter-Williams/Noel reunion a reality, though, Hinkie and the Sixers had to take a huge gamble, a gamble that still needs approval from the NBA.

The trade for Noel is risky, especially when you consider the Sixers' history with centers who have knee problems. See Jeff Ruland and, more recently, Andrew Bynum.

The Sixers traded for Bynum last year with the hope that the 7-0 center would be the cornerstone for playoff teams for years to come. Instead, Bynum missed the entire season with knee trouble and the Sixers went 34-48 and failed to make the playoffs.

Noel is coming off of major knee surgery. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in February and missed the rest of the season. He was projected to go either first or second, but fell to sixth because of questions about the knee.

Noel is not expected to be able to play until December, but if healthy, he could be an absolute steal. He's just 19 and won't turn 20 until next May. More importantly, Noel is a shot-blocking machine. The 7-0, 206-pounder, with a 7-3½ wingspan, averaged 4.4 blocks per game in 24 games for the Wildcats. That would have led the nation, but he did not play in enough games to qualify for the leaders.

Noel did earn SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors and also averaged 10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

The price to get Noel, though, was steep. The Sixers had to give up their best player to get him. But if the deal works out, the Sixers received two first round picks for the player they selected with the 17th pick in the first round of the 2009 draft.

Holiday came into his own last season. Holiday started in 78 games and averaged 17.7 points, 8.0 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game, all career highs. He also was named to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career and was one of the few bright spots on a truly dreadful team.

But it was a move the Sixers felt they had to make to get better. It caught everyone, including the players, by surprise.